It is quite natural that we all want to live in a healthy and clean environment, but unfortunately, our planet has been slowly turning into a giant garbage dump. If you read our article with these 25 Shocking Facts About Pollution or if you checked these 25 Shocking Pictures Of The Pollution In China, you probably caught a glimpse of the seriousness and scale of the burning environmental issues that our planet has been struggling with. While the overall score is undoubtedly sad, the good news is that there are still some places in the world that are clean, neat, and unpolluted. However, it usually takes more than just some governmental regulations and public notices to keep a city clean and tidy. It is also the duty of the locals to take part in the process and be as eco-friendly as possible. To show you some cities which have already succeeded in making their environment cleaner and their residents happier and healthier, we did a bit of a research on this topic and compiled a list with some of the cleanest cities in the world. From spotlessly clean and green Northern European cities such as Stockholm and Reykjavik to surprisingly clean cities in Africa and Asia, here are 25 Cleanest Cities In The World.

25

Zurich, Switzerland

Source: en.wikipedia.org, image: http://ift.tt/2dEHhpY

Let us kick off the list with a city that is largely considered one of the cleanest and greenest cities in the world. Home to about 400,000 people, Zurich is known for its continued optimization and creation of eco-friendly public transportation, enlargement of the bicycle-only network, research and projects for renewable energy, and enclosure of speed-ways, etc.

24

Wellington, New Zealand

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The capital and one of the largest cities of New Zealand, Wellington has a reputation of being a clean and tidy city with a number of natural attractions that are well preserved and taken care of. More than a third of local people use public transport instead of cars, which greatly reduces air pollution in the area.

23

Ifrane, Morocco

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Out of just a few African cities that can boast clean environment, Ifrane is probably the most famous one. Perched high in the Middle Atlas Mountains at an elevation of 1,665 m (5,463 ft), Ifrane has no industrial action, which is why local residents and tourists can enjoy unpolluted air and water. The city is also a popular ski resort as it gets covered with snow in winter.

22

Oslo, Norway

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The capital of Norway is known as one of the most expensive cities in the world, but those who can afford to live here will enjoy fresh air and a perfectly clean environment. Oslo is easy to move around by public transportation or rentable bikes. In 2007, Reader’s Digest even ranked Oslo as number two on a list of the world’s greenest and most livable cities.

21

El Hierro, Spain

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Technically, El Hierro is not a city as it is one of the Canary Islands (that belong to Spain), but it attracted the whole world’s attention earlier this year as it managed to produce enough electricity for its 7,000 inhabitants for more than 24 hours by its hydro-wind plants only. Known for its lush ancient forests and volcanic cliffs, the island is a UNESCO biosphere reserve.

20

Freiburg, Germany

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Home to some 220,000 people, Freiburg is known as Germany’s sunniest and warmest city; however, it is also appreciated for its beautiful parks, clean streets, fresh air, and eco-friendly environment. Situated in the heart of the major Baden wine-growing region, it serves as the primary tourist entry point to the scenic beauty of the Black Forest, a large mountain range.

19

Toronto, Canada

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Toronto is a living proof that even a large metropolis with more than 2.6 million inhabitants can be clean and tidy. Renowned for its environmental innovations, Toronto has been particularly successful in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The city also has a very efficient and complex public transport system that contributes to the clean environment.

18

Amsterdam, Netherlands

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With over 600,000 rentable bikes all over the city, Amsterdam is referred to as a cyclist’s heaven, and it is this unusual practice what helps to keep the city remarkably clean. In 2012, Amsterdam was even ranked the second best city to live in by the Economist Intelligence Unit and 12th on quality of living for environment and infrastructure by Mercer.

17

Brisbane, Australia

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Most Australian cities have a clean environment with relatively low levels of all types of pollution. What makes Brisbane stand out, though, is the fact that it is clean and tidy despite its enormous size (it has a population of more than 2.3 million). The city has a number of great parks, botanic gardens, and other green recreation areas.

16

Portland, Oregon, USA

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Nicknamed the “City of Roses,” Portland is frequently recognized as one of the most environmentally conscious cities in the world because of its high walkability, large community of bicyclists, farm-to-table dining, expansive network of public transportation options, and over 10,000 acres (4,000 hectares) of public parks.

Want to know what other US Cities made our list? Keep reading to find out!

15

Stockholm, Sweden

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Considered one of the cleanest capitals in the world, Stockholm was granted the 2010 European Green Capital Award by the EU Commission, becoming Europe’s first “green capital.” Applicant cities were evaluated in several ways including climate change, local transport, public green areas, air quality, noise, waste, sustainable utilization of land, biodiversity, etc.

14

Nottingham, UK

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The United Kingdom also has several cities that boast unpolluted environments and tidy streets. One of them is Nottingham, a city located in Central England. Nottingham has launched numerous projects to combat litter and graffiti problems, and it even won the “Britain’s Cleanest City” award in 2014.

13

Kobe, Japan

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Known as the cleanest city in Japan, Kobe has implemented one of the most efficient waste disposal systems in the world. As local people are very environmentally-conscious, the streets are always clean. Although the city is a huge metropolis brimming with more than 1.5 million inhabitants, there are many nice green areas to relax.

12

Luxembourg City, Luxembourg

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Nicknamed the “Green Heart of Europe,” Luxembourg City is the capital of Luxembourg (officially known as the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg). Renowned for a number of well-preserved ancient castles and green forests, the city was even declared the third cleanest city in the world last year.

11

Calgary, Canada

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Calgary has been regularly ranked among the world’s cleanest cities in the past few years, and there is a good reason for that. Local people are taught 5 basic principles to follow in order to keep the environment clean and healthy. Those 5 points are Sewage System Quality, Water Drinkability and Availability, Waste Removal and Recycling, Traffic Congestion, and Air Pollution.

10

Singapore

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The world’s only island city-state, Singapore is famous for a number of strict regulations concerning environmental issues and tidiness of the city including the ban on chewing gum. Nearly 10% of Singapore’s land has been set aside for parks and nature reserves, and the city has also launched several tree-planting campaigns to improve the quality of life.

9

Curitiba, Brazil

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While Brazil is hardly ever referred to as a clean country, there is one exception – the city of Curitiba. Local government encourages its residents to keep the city clean by letting them to exchange bags of sorted waste for food or bus tokens. Consequently, up to 70% of the city’s trash is recycled. The city’s paper recycling, for example, saves the equivalent of 1,200 trees a day.

8

Geneva, Switzerland

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Geneva is famous for being one of the most affluent, expensive, livable, and safest cities in the world, but the city stands out at yet another field – environmentalist efforts and tidiness. One of the cleanest cities in the world, Geneva is home to The Geneva Environment Network, a network of global organizations working on environment protection and sustainable development.

7

Vienna, Austria

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The capital and largest city of Austria, Vienna has a population of about 1.8 million, but the city regularly ranks among the cleanest cities in the world. Vienna has invested huge amounts of money into its waste disposal systems over the past decades, and it has been paying off. Moreover, local people are very environmentally-conscious and they help the authorities to keep their city spotlessly clean and tidy.

6

Reykjavik, Iceland

Source: en.wikipedia.org, image: http://ift.tt/2dEIltV

Located right next to the Arctic Circle, Iceland is one the cleanest countries in the world, so it is not surprising to see its capital Reykjavik among the cleanest cities in the world. There was no urban development in the city until the 19th century. Even now, Reykjavik remains one of the cleanest and greenest cities in the world with practically no pollution.

5

Helsinki, Finland

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Another Nordic city on the list, Helsinki is the capital and largest city of Finland. Helsinki’s residents are committed to protecting the environment and keeping the streets clean and tidy. To cut the energy of the city to a minimum consumption, a complex system has even been designed to generate heat by electricity.

4

Honolulu, Hawaii, USA

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With a population of almost 340,000 people, Honolulu is the most remote major city in the world as the closest location on the mainland to it is the Point Arena Lighthouse in California at 3,800 km (2,360 mi). It might be due this extreme isolation that Honolulu (as well as the whole state of Hawaii) is one of the cleanest and greenest places in the world.

3

Copenhagen, Denmark

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The capital of Denmark, Copenhagen is recognized as one of the most environmentally friendly cities in the world. As a result of its commitment to high environmental standards, Copenhagen has been praised for its green economy, ranked as the top green city for the second time in the 2014 Global Green Economy Index. Substantial investments in sewage treatment have improved water quality in the harbor to an extent that it can be used for swimming.

2

Chicago, Illinois, USA

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With over 2.7 million residents, Chicago is the third largest city in the USA but has a reputation of being a very clean and eco-friendly city. Chicago has planted over 186,000 sq m (2 million sq ft) of rooftop gardens throughout the city to improve the air quality, and it also encourages its residents to use public transport to reduce emissions.

1

Hamburg, Germany

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The second biggest city in Germany, Hamburg has been praised for its environmental efforts for years. It has set itself a target of cutting CO2 emissions by 80 percent by 2050. Hamburg’s authorities also released details of plans to develop a “Green Network,” which would mean that people will no longer need to take to their cars to get around the city.